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An ideal conductor in electrostatic equilibrium has zero field in its interior and constant potential on its surface. Grounding fixes that potential to zero. The tangential field is continuous and therefore vanishes; the normal field has the jump fixed by the induced surface charge density $\sigma$:Here the normal points upward out of the conductor. The normal field is not generally zero; grounding prescribes the potential, not the induced charge density.

For a conductor in electrostatic equilibrium, the interior field is zero and the surface is equipotential. The tangential exterior field is zero. A thin Gaussian pillbox gives the normal jump $E_{\mathrm{out}}\cdot \mathbf{n}-E_{\mathrm{in}}\cdot \mathbf{n}=\sigma /{ϵ}_0$. Thus, in vacuum and with $\mathbf{n}$ pointing out of the conductor,These are the electrostatic boundary conditions at a conductor.

To obtain electrostatic energy in field form, integrate over the space outside the conductors, cutting it off first at a large sphere. From the Maxwell equations, $\nabla \cdot \mathbf{E}=\rho /{ϵ}_0$ and $\mathbf{E}=-\nabla \varphi$, soOn a conductor boundary, the outward normal of the integration region points into the conductor, so its flux contribution is $-{\varphi }_i{Q}_i/{ϵ}_0$. At the remote outer boundary the flux integral tends to zero: for a localized charge distribution, $\varphi =O(1/r)$ and $\mathbf{E}=O(1/r^2)$. The divergence theorem therefore givesSince the field vanishes inside conductors,The field integral is over all space, although the charges occupy a finite volume. For a finite outer integration boundary there is additionally the term $({ϵ}_0/2)\oint \varphi \mathbf{E}\cdot d\mathbf{S}$.

For the electrostatic energy of alternating-charge concentric shells, the total enclosed charge after shell $n$ isBy spherical symmetry and Gauss's law, the field is zero for $r<r_1$, and in every subsequent gap, including outside the last shell,Although its direction alternates, its squared magnitude is the same in every gap. ConsequentlyThe coefficient of $1/r_1$ is $q^2/(8\pi {ϵ}_0)$, independent of the other radii and of the number of shells.

For the conductor in electrostatic equilibrium, the interior electric field is zero and the electrostatic potential is constant. Earthing fixes that constant to zero. Thus the conductor boundary conditions at $x=d$ areThe normal electric field need not vanish; it is supported by a surface charge density. The outward normal from this conductor into the exterior is $\mathbf{n}=-{\mathbf{e}}_x$, so the normal jump condition isThis sign convention will determine the sign of the induced surface charge density below.